| Mahinda dropped |
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan-2013-02-21
 President Mahinda Rajapaksa's special envoy on human rights, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, who served in that capacity for well over half a decade, has been dropped from the list of delegates attending the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva next month.
However, a high profile delegation comprising senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Attorney General's Department, along with Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, will be present in Geneva.
Minister Samarasinghe's removal from the list has come as a result of a directive from the President, it has been revealed.
Minister Samarasinghe confirmed to Ceylon Today that he is not participating in the UNHRC sessions this time and refused to comment further.
The Ministry of External Affairs pointed out that Minister Samarasinghe, or for that matter, none of the government ministers are participating in the forthcoming sessions in Geneva.
The ministry declined to comment whether Minister Samarasinghe is permanently removed from the post as the President's special envoy on human rights.
When contacted, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Rodney Perera, told Ceylon Today, the government will decide today whether Prof. G.L. Peiris will participate or not. He added the persons representing the government in Geneva will be finalized today.
Regarding the proposed US resolution on Sri Lanka, the ministry spokesperson said, "We are holding another round of diplomatic briefing with the mission heads in Sri Lanka today. It is on the regular basis but we are keeping them informed about the country's progress."
He also said that even though the government is hoping to win more countries to vote for Sri Lanka, they will have to 'wait to see' what the US resolution on Sri Lanka is all about.
"We want the nations that voted for us last year and the other nations too, to support us this time as well and that is why we are briefing the heads of missions in Sri Lanka on a regular basis."
He also said the Sri Lankan foreign missions are also working hard to promote Sri Lanka in the countries they are stationed.
When asked whether it would be tough and more challenging this time for Sri Lanka compared with last year UNHRC review session, Perera said, "It's not about tough challenges that we would be facing there, but we reiterate that we still maintain and hold on to what we have been telling the international community so far and that is what will be taken for discussion in Geneva next month."
  America is seriously functioning in the efforts of implementing another resolution against Sri Lanka at Geneva and Sri Lanka has taken decision to evade the situation of not giving much importance to this sessions is according to information.
In a state of not able to avert from international crisis, or to overcome the recommendations, Sri Lanka has decided to send a delegate panel consisting 10 officials only to Geneva.
Sri lanka High Commissioner for Geneva Ravinath Ariyasinghe will lead the Sri Lanka delegates panel.
To counteract the resolution brought against Sri Lanka last year, a panel of 100 and more delegates including Ministers was sent to Geneva to carry out aggressive campaigns, however those efforts turned futile.
Hence this year it has come to the conclusion that it cannot accomplish success with America, hence Sri lanka government had decided of not giving much importance to the Geneva sessions which would be held on the forthcoming Monday
Thursday , 21 February 2013
|
Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Thursday , 21 February 2013
Defense unit had prevented Dr. Mrs Sivashankar wife of Dr.Sivashanker to hand over a letter to President appealing to release her husband was stated. Dr.Sivashankar on last year end of December month was arrested by Mangulam police.
Allegations were charged against him that he entered the forces camp without permission and was in possession of a recording device.
In this state President Mahinda Rajapakse was on a visit to Jaffna on last 12th and 13th, to attend a special development committee meeting at a hotel located in Jaffna town.
During this meeting President ordered to release the two university students arrested under Terrorism Prevention law on the appeal made by their parents.
President inaugurated the Jaffna Teaching hospital’s new building complex, the next day on 13th and wife of Dr.Sivashankar attempted to handover an appeal to President to release her husband.
However President's defense unit had refused to permit her to handover the petition to President, stating that they would hand it over to him. They did not permit her to handover the appeal personally to President was stated.
An Ex-Minister And The Immigration Officer
February 21, 2013
An Afghan, upon landing at Colombo Airport, declares himself as the Ex-Minister of Ports & Shipping of Afghanistan.
The Immigration Officer was puzzled and asked : “But there is no sea in Afghanistan. How can you be the ex- Minister of Ports & Shipping?”
The Afghan replied: “Oye Haramzaade ke aulad, don’t you have a Minister for Law & Justice in Sri Lanka?”
Tamil Tiger leader’s son killed deliberately, filmmaker alleges
Documentary shows photos of 12-year-old son of Velupillai Prabhakaran apparently in custody of Sri Lankan army, then dead from bullet wounds.
The Toronto Star
Photos from a British documentary show Balachandran Prabhakaran, son of the Tamil Tigers leader, apparently in the custody of the Sri Lankan army hours before he was killed in May 2009. The photos fuel the theory that he was killed by the military, which the Sri Lankan government denies.
Just hours after a British TV channel released photographs suggesting the 12-year-old son of the slain Tamil Tigers leader was murdered, not killed in crossfire during the chaotic end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Human Rights Watch asked the United Nations to investigate war crimes committed in the final months of the conflict.
Several credible sources have reported war crimes and human rights abuses by government forces and the Tamil Tigers, said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, in a letter to the UN’s Human Rights Council.
But the government has “not reported any criminal prosecutions for serious rights abuses,” he said.
As many as 70,000 people were killed in the 25-year civil war between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. The Tamil Tigers, a banned terrorist organization, sought to create an independent Tamil state in the island nation.
The letter from Human Rights Watch came on the heels of photographs from Channel 4’s documentary showing Balachandran Prabhakaran, son of the Tamil Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, apparently in the custody of the Sri Lankan army hours before he was killed in May 2009, as the war was coming to an end.
One photograph shows the boy sitting in a bunk wearing beige and black shorts with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He looks pensive, and is holding something that looks like a snack.
In another photograph, he is in the same pair of shorts, lying on his back, dead from multiple bullet wounds.
There is no blood, just tiny holes on his chest. His eyes are slightly open, his left hand is on his thigh.
According to Channel 4, digital analysis showed the second photo was taken two hours after the first one with the same camera, fuelling the theory that the 12-year-old was killed in cold blood by the military.
The Sri Lankan government has maintained that Prabhakaran’s family was killed in fighting at the same time he was. The bodies of his wife and daughter have never been found.
Balachandran was killed deliberately, Callum Macrae, director of the Channel 4 documentary No fire zone: The killing fields of Sri Lanka, wrote in The Hindu, an Indian daily newspaper.
“(The photos) prove that Balachandran was not killed in crossfire, or in a battle. His death was deliberate and calculated,” he wrote.
But a Sri Lankan military spokesman called the allegations “lies, half-truths and rumours.”
Though political violence has eased since the Sri Lankan army crushed the Tamil separatist movement three years ago, human rights groups say problems persist, including abductions and attacks on media and critics.
In late 2012, the government effectively eliminated the independence of the Supreme Court by orchestrating the impeachment of the chief justice after she ruled a government-sponsored bill to be unconstitutional. President Mahinda Rajapaksa quickly installed a political ally as the new chief justice.
The group urged the UN Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution when it meets this month calling for the government to probe alleged war crimes during the civil war. It also said Sri Lanka is becoming an “autocracy” where the rule of law and postwar reconciliation are under threat.
A presidential spokesman told the Associated Press he wouldn’t comment on the report until the government sees it.
Last week, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights criticized the government’s failure to provide justice and accountability in a report. It urged “an independent and credible international investigation” into alleged violations of human rights.
Pied Pipers Of Sri Lanka
By Tisaranee Gunasekara -February 21, 2013
He seduced everybody in the land
The fire in his eyes
And the fear was a weapon in his hand
So they let him play
Play their minds away”
The Piper (ABBA)
In his penultimate photographs, 12 year old Balachandran Pirapaharan glances away from the camera. The empty look in his averted eyes, the slump of his plump young shoulders speaks of defeat and of a loss which is beyond hope, and beyond fear.
He is alone, he is helpless and he knows that.
Unlike his older brother and sister, Balachandran never joined the Tigers, never bore arms against the Lankan army. If he was executed in cold blood, it was not because of anything he did, but because of his ethnicity and parentage. It’s collective punishment taken to a brutal barbaric extreme.
If Colombo ordered Balachandran’s execution, then there is something toxically rotten in the state of Sri Lanka. If we, the Sinhalese, are not affected and outraged by the possibility of such a crime, or if we lack the courage to condemn it, then we are a nation lost. We will not know peace or development. We will look on apathetically, as other fanatics commit other crimes in our name and push this already bloodied land from one violent crisis to the next.
And the last laugh will belong to Vellupillai Pirapaharan.
***
In Sri Lanka, protests outside embassies happen only with the active participation or the tacit consent of the Ruling Rajapaksas.
Three days after the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) had its incendiary meeting in Maharagama, its partner organisation Sinhala Ravaya (SR) marched from the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre to the Iranian Embassy. ‘Our discontent of (sic) banning Buddha Statues in Iran’, screamed hand-drawn placards while printed ones in Sinhala claimed that by banning Buddha statues, Iran had ‘insulted the Buddhist world’.
But Iran has not banned Buddha statues, according to Saeed Jaber Ansari, Secretary of the Headquarters for Supporting and Protecting Cultural Works and the supposed author of the ban: “Unfortunately, my remarks have been misinterpreted… I just meant the illegal imports of certain cultural works and items and in violation of the customs (rules and regulations). From our point of view, disrespect for the beliefs of other regions is unacceptable” (FNA – 20.2.2013).
Iran is a key ally of the Rajapaksas; Tehran came to Colombo’s rescue time and again with weapons and oil, at concessionary prices. All Colombo had to do was to check with Tehran about the supposed ban. Instead, a molehill was turned into a mountain; and the SR allowed to demonstrate against a key ally.
Are the fanatics beyond Rajapaksa control? Do they represent an independent power bloc which even Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is loath to antagonise?
If the Rajapaksas are still in control, why are they allowing BBS and SR to sow the seeds of a religious conflict nationally and antagonise a key ally internationally?
Perhaps the answer to this question can be gleaned by examining what issues BBS and SR focus on and which ones they ignore.
BBS and SR (and JHU) never protest against the dispossession of Sinhala-Buddhists, when the expropriators are the Rajapaksas.
For instance, these self-declared guardians of the ‘Sinhala nation’ were mute about the violent eviction of Sinhala-Buddhist villagers of Ragamwela and Shastrawela, in Ampara; or about the destruction of 200 acres of chenas belonging to Sinhala-Buddists of Panama.
Defending the Sinhala inhabitants and the Buddhist heritage of the East is said to be a paramount task of BBS-SR-JHU types. So why the reverberating silence about the dispossessions and evictions in Ampara? How come these eternal vigilantes are not up in arms against the Navy’s bulldozing of the ancient Samudra Giri Vihayara in Ragamwela?
Why are BBS and SR silent about the Rajapaksa plan to hand over the Norochcholai plant to the Chinese? Will they march on the Chinese Embassy in protest?
What about the selling and leasing of prime lands in Colombo to foreigners? Where are the defenders of Sinhala patrimony?
Why the silence about the plight of the Sinhala Buddhist victims of child abuse and rape? Is this all important issue of no concern to the BBS/SR because Sinhala Buddhist children and women are being victimised not by Muslims or Tamils but by Sinhala Buddhist men?
The JHU-BBS-SR types are cautious about what and who they criticise. They are yet to oppose the excesses of the Ruling Family; they have nothing to say about corruption or inflation. They vanished into the woodwork during the impeachment.
When Sinhala interests are being undermined by the Rajapaksas, when Sinhala-Buddhists are being victimised by other Sinhala-Buddhists, the JHU-BBS-SR types remain dormant and mute. They become virulently vocal and offensively active only when they can scream against this or that minority.
Until about a year ago, their main enemy happened to be Christians. They screamed about Christian conspiracies and charged that Christians were trying to convert innocent Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims by unethical means.
Suddenly, inexplicably, they changed tracks. The Christian enemy is a thing of the past. Now their Satan is a Muslim. He eats Halal food, practices polygamy, breeds incessantly and plans to takeover Sri Lanka!
Whose Tune?
Dinesh Gunawardane is a Sinhala Supremacist, albeit one who retains some sanity. When the BBS’s planned Maharagama meeting was discussed in cabinet, he had wanted it banned. The President reportedly disagreed, claiming that leading BBS monks assured him that they do not have an anti-Muslim agenda.
Is the President being duped? If so, a passing look at the BBS Facebook page or its You Tube videos will enlighten him.
Or is he the organ-grinder for the BBS’s Dance Macabre?
This time last year, anti-Americanism/Western imperialism was the Zeitgeist. Washington was readying to present a resolution on Sri Lanka at Geneva. The resolution asked for the time-bound implementation of LLRC recommendations and the Americans invited Sri Lanka to participate in the drafting process.
The Rajapaksas acted as if they were being ordered to succumb to colonial-subjugation or condone territorial-decapitation. Geneva was turned into a life-and-death battle. The Siblings expressed willingness to sacrifice their lives to defend the country from an American invasion; ministerial acolytes screamed their determination to ride the same tumbrel with the Siblings all the way to the guillotine. Demonstrations against the West and the UN became a daily occurrence.
This year the regime seems to be ignoring Geneva, almost. Though Washington is drafting a follow-up resolution on Sri Lanka, there will be no mammoth delegations or organised-hysteria.
Colombo has other, bigger, concerns.
Today Islamophobia is the Zeitgeist. The demonstrators target not Western invaders but Muslim encroachers.
With the Tiger defeated, the Rajapaksas have no more use of Lankan Muslims. Thanks to anti-Iranian sanctions, Colombo has very little to gain from a special relationship with Tehran.
The Rajapaksas have their own brand of deranged-logic, dictated by their power-mania. Are they trying to conjure an Islamic enemy as a patriotic cover for their repressive rule and their oppressive economics? Are they promoting the myth of an Islamic threat to win an entrée into the West?
Are we going to sleepwalk behind these demented Pipers, to a new doom?
Shot Sri Lankan journalist under government protection
Faraz Shauketaly, the Sri Lankan journalist who was shot at the weekend, confirms he is recovering and under government protection after the attempt on his life, and calls for a full investigation.
More on this story
Faraz Shauketaly, the Sri Lankan journalist who was shot at the weekend, confirms he is recovering and under government protection after the attempt on his life, and calls for a full investigation.
Faraz Shauketaly, who works for The Sunday Leader in Sri Lanka, has issued a statement after the shooting at the weekend which left him in hospital.
He was shot in the neck by three unidentified gunmen on Friday night in his house in Mount Lavinia, while on the phone discussing a story for this week's edition of the newspaper.
Although political violence has calmed since the end of Sri Lanka's brutal civil war in 2009, human rights groups remain concerned about political violence, abductions and attacks on media and government critics.
An editor at The Sunday Leader was killed in January 2009 and other members of staff have also been attacked in the past, although no arrests have been made.
In his statement, Mr Shauketaly confirmed he is under government protection personally ordered by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He also said the government had ordered an investigation into the incident.
Read more: UN 'deeply disturbed' by Sri Lankan shooting
His statement in full:
"Further to a clear attempt to assassinate me at my residence last Friday night by persons as yet unknown, my family and I would like to thank His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka for his personal intervention in issuing instructions to the law enforcement authorities to ensure a thorough and rapid investigation is carried out into this matter. This clearly demonstrates His Excellency’s determination to uphold the rule of law in Sri Lanka.
"My family and I are also mindful of the support we have had from hundreds of well-wishers around the world concerned at these rather traumatic events and we appreciate their messages of support and concern including that of the United Kingdom. Due to the wide international coverage this incident has caused primarily due to my involvement in the media industry, we have felt a need to address some of those concerns.
"It would be prudent to note that due to the nature of my very serious injuries I have been unable to fully assist the investigative work of the local police who are yet to receive my formal statement of the traumatic events that took place last Friday night at my home in Mount Lavinia. Naturally, in the fullness of time my statement will be given to the police in order that the important work they are required to carry out will be facilitated.
"However my most immediate concern now is for the recovery of my health and of course the continued safety of my family and me. In this respect His Excellency President Rajapaksa has personally ordered the provision of adequate personal protection for me and this is very much in place now. Indeed, Security was provided immediately after the incident was reported. I am clearly very grateful for this support during this difficult and trying period for me personally.
"The articles that I have written on a variety of subjects including investigative articles, news reports, and the column I write, has never been at cross-purposes and it is acknowledged that these have been balanced and equitable in every way.
"My family and I are confident that once the necessary statements have been made the authorities in Sri Lanka will be able to fully investigate, apprehend and prosecute to the full extent the law permits, those responsible for planning and executing the cowardly attack on my life.
"My family is deeply grateful for the efforts and support received from the United Kingdom authorities in Sri Lanka and would like to urge all concerned that until such time that the investigations are completed, it would be unfair and inequitable to rush into conclusions that may have no basis in fact. We urge the international community to bear with these particular circumstances which we acknowledge are both difficult and important to completely investigate."
British-Sri Lankan journalist wounded by gunmen
By: Jan Beyer, IPI Contributor-Monday, 18 February 2013
Journalist Faraz Shauketaly, who writes for the Sri Lankan newspaper The Sunday Leader, receives treatment for his injuries after being shot by an unidentified group of men at Kalubowila hospital in Colombo on Feb. 16, 2013. The reason for the shooting is still unknown and the police are conducting investigations into the matter, local media reported. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte
VIENNA, Feb 18, 2013 – The International Press Institute (IPI) today urged the Sri Lankan authorities to conduct a swift and comprehensive investigation into the violent attack on Sunday Leader journalist Faraz Shauketaly.
Shauketaly was seriously injured on Saturday after three gunmen broke into his house near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and opened fire from close range. The 54-year-old journalist, who holds both Sri Lankan and British citizenship, was rushed to hospital where doctors successfully removed a bullet from his neck.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described the attack as an “attempted assassination”.
According to reports, Shauketaly’s life is currently not in danger; however, he suffered serious injuries.
Prior to the attack Shauketaly was engaged in investigations focused on corruption both within the private and government sectors, according to the British Independent.
The attack on Shauketaly was not an isolated incident; reporters from theSunday Leader have been victims of aggression before. In January 2009, former editor-in-chief Lasantha Wickrematunga was shot dead by two men on motorbikes. Reports said that the paper had been critically covering military actions against Tamil rebels by government forces at that time.
According to the 2011 Human Rights Report on Sri Lanka published by the U.S. State Department, there have been several incidents in which government officials issued death threats aimed directly at journalists.
Shauketaly was seriously injured on Saturday after three gunmen broke into his house near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and opened fire from close range. The 54-year-old journalist, who holds both Sri Lankan and British citizenship, was rushed to hospital where doctors successfully removed a bullet from his neck.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described the attack as an “attempted assassination”.
According to reports, Shauketaly’s life is currently not in danger; however, he suffered serious injuries.
Prior to the attack Shauketaly was engaged in investigations focused on corruption both within the private and government sectors, according to the British Independent.
The attack on Shauketaly was not an isolated incident; reporters from theSunday Leader have been victims of aggression before. In January 2009, former editor-in-chief Lasantha Wickrematunga was shot dead by two men on motorbikes. Reports said that the paper had been critically covering military actions against Tamil rebels by government forces at that time.
According to the 2011 Human Rights Report on Sri Lanka published by the U.S. State Department, there have been several incidents in which government officials issued death threats aimed directly at journalists.
Wednesday , 20 February 2013
A portion of the photographs now released concerning the brutal murder of Balachandran which contain for one and half hours on the footage concerning the war crimes executed by Sri lanka government will be televise at the Geneva conference.
Other than these more cruel incidents which create burning sensations will be revealed. Hence India including world countries without delaying should expedite war crime investigations against Sri Lanka government.
Such statements were made by Tamil National Alliance and Media Spokesperson and parliament member Suresh Piremachandran.
Concerning the brutal murder of Tamil Eelam Liberation tiger leader Velupillai Pirabakaran's youngest son Balanchandran, his arrest by the Sri Lanka military at the Vanni final war, detention and later brutally killed are the new photographs published.
This was acquired through Channel 4 by the daily newsprint from London “The Independent" and “The Hindu", the daily newspaper from India, which has published these photographs as new evidences.
“Final moments of Tiger movement Leader's youngest son, given food before killed ruthlessly” is captioned and the article is published with the photographs.
Pirabakaran's youngest son was trapped at the Vanni final war, died, at the time the forces captured the ultimate land which was in the control of liberation tigers, his body was found at the Mullaitheevu coastal area was previously notified by the Sri Lanka government.
But the recently published new photographs, are contradicting to the statement given by the Sri Lanka government sector and the photographs clearly establish that Balachandran was arrested live, detained and later had been shot to death is the opinion of international Medias.
In this state the recently published Balachandran's brutal murder photographs, was commented by Alliance Media Spokesperson Suresh MP to the “Sudar Oli" press yesterday made the above statements.
He said, Sri Lanka government is notifying that they were engaged in humanitarian activities during the final war in Vanni, but the strangeness of their humanitarian activities has now got exposed.
That innocent boy surrendered and was given biscuit to eat, and after he was tortured was shot to death, and whether this is called Sri Lanka government's humanitarian?
Probably this time too, Sri Lanka government will completely deny the photographs published concerning the brutal murder and the footage which will be released shortly.
The unruly activities shown by the military intelligence personnel, in the midst of thousands of people and parliament members in Jaffna Tellipalai, are attempted by Sri lanka to conceal.
The military intelligence personnel photographs and videos published in Tamil, English and Sinhala Medias are elaborated by sophisticated technology was said by Police Media spokesperson.
In this state, the photographs and the videos which will be released in future concerning Balachandran's ruthless murder may be notified as fabricated by the Sri Lanka government.
But the reply to these unruly acts is in the hands of India including world countries. After observing these brutal scenes, and submitting reports for political gains, world countries should not maintain silence.
India including world countries should support the resolution brought by America against Sri Lanka government at the Geneva conference. Further without delaying war crime investigation against Sri lanka should be expedited.
Through this investigation, those connected with Tamil people's brutal murders, penalty should be given. Justice should be given for the affected Tamils by war. Settlement should be granted. This was urged by Tamil National Alliance was said by Suresh.
Jayalalithaa cancels Asian Athletics Championships, says she won't host Sri Lankans
Reported by Sam Daniel Stalin (With inputs from agencies), Edited by Amit Chaturvedi February 21, 2013
Chennai: Tamil Nadu will not host the Asian Athletics Championships scheduled for July, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said, because the Centre has not asked Sri Lanka to skip the event.She cited the alleged war crimes by Sri Lankan defence forces as they defeated the rebel LTTE in 2009, ending the island's lengthy civil war.
"Sri Lanka's participation would hurt people's sentiments in Tamil Nadu," she said, adding that the Union government has ignored a request by her to ban Sri Lanka from the Championships.
The 20th edition of the Championships was to be hosted in India after a gap of nearly 20 years. New Delhi had hosted it in 1989.
Yesterday, the chief minister described as "a war crime" the alleged execution of the 12-year- old son of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran.
Photos released by UK's Channel 4 show the child snacking while in military custody just hours before he was shot dead. The photos, which are morphed according to the Sri Lanka administration, feature in a new documentary that will screen next month in Geneva to coincide with a UN Human Rights Council discussion on the country, currently facing censure by the US over its failure to probe war crimes.
The DMK, a senior ally in the Prime Minister's ruling coalition, has said that India must vote against Sri Lanka and support the resolution.
Last year, after the party threatened to quit the government, India voted against Sri Lanka as the UN's top human rights body asked the island to look into allegedly vast human rights violations as the defence forces defeated the rebel Tigers.
Rights groups say up to 40,000 civilians were killed by security forces.
The Sri Lankan government has denied causing civilian deaths and has maintained that LTTE chief Prabhakaran's family were killed in fighting. The bodies of his wife and daughter have not been found.
Yesterday, the chief minister described as "a war crime" the alleged execution of the 12-year- old son of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran.
Photos released by UK's Channel 4 show the child snacking while in military custody just hours before he was shot dead. The photos, which are morphed according to the Sri Lanka administration, feature in a new documentary that will screen next month in Geneva to coincide with a UN Human Rights Council discussion on the country, currently facing censure by the US over its failure to probe war crimes.
The DMK, a senior ally in the Prime Minister's ruling coalition, has said that India must vote against Sri Lanka and support the resolution.
Last year, after the party threatened to quit the government, India voted against Sri Lanka as the UN's top human rights body asked the island to look into allegedly vast human rights violations as the defence forces defeated the rebel Tigers.
Rights groups say up to 40,000 civilians were killed by security forces.
The Sri Lankan government has denied causing civilian deaths and has maintained that LTTE chief Prabhakaran's family were killed in fighting. The bodies of his wife and daughter have not been found.
‘Please find my husband’  Senior journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda’s wife Sandya handed over a petition to the UN High Commission in Colombo pleading that her husband, who disappeared in 2010, be found.. Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana .jpg) .jpg) |
.jpg)
Judiciary: The Line Of Battle Has Been Clearly Drawn
At the Bar Association election this year, Mr. Upul Jayasooriya was elected with an overwhelming majority. He won by a margin of over 1,471 votes while the persons who came in second and third received 330 and 77 votes. It was well known that oner of the candidates was openly promoted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. However, the lawyers of the country voted for a candidate who openly took up a position opposing the move of the government to remove Dr. Shirani Bandaranayke, as the Chief Justice. It can be said that this election is an expression of no confidence against the government’s severe interference into the judicial independence.
CJ Shirani
It is hope that the election will lead to a continuation of the resistance of lawyers to the direct undermining of the independence of the judiciary by the government. The very survival of the legal profession rests on the capacity of the lawyers to resist the virtual destruction of the very foundations on which the legal profession is rooted, which are the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers. The government has pushed its agenda for the exercise of absolute power to the point where the independence of the judiciary is no longer possible.
However, the government also cannot deviate from the course it has set out upon by way of by way of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Furthermore, according to reports, the government is also contemplating further legislation to strengthen its attempt to take absolute power.
In Sri Lanka today there is open conflict between the law and the mode of governance that the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime is pursuing. The government’s does whatever it pleases irrespective of whether it undermines the laws of the country. That, ‘whatever the government wants’ is law, is the policy now.
Therefore, the conflict with the judiciary and the lawyers is a course that the government appears to be unable to avoid. That the destruction of the legal foundation of the country, will also result in the destruction of the legal profession seems to be of no concern to the government.
Therefore, the line of battle has been clearly drawn. If the legal profession wishes to protect itself it must fight vigorously for the protection of the law in the country. This protection also requires the independence of the judiciary. If there is a move to use the judiciary itself to destroy the law, then the legal profession will have very little choice but to oppose this move.
Had the legal profession realized its obligations towards the protection of the law in Sri Lanka, it would have opposed the destruction which has been taking place for several decades now. Even the belated realisation of the danger faced by the very survival of the profession is a welcome signal, not only for the legal profession but also for the country as a whole. No country can survive without the law. And the kind of executive presidential system that has developed in the country is in direct conflict with the law. Therefore, the citizens who care for their rights, can no longer avoid a confrontation with the government’s attempt to destroy that very foundation. The attack on the law and the independence of the judiciary by the government endangers the survival of the Sri Lankan legal system.
We therefore congratulate the lawyers for the manner in which they have expressed their opposition to the government’s move to destroy the law and the independence of the judiciary and we hope the new office bearers of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, will live up to the expectations of those who voted for them, by carefully developing and implementing their strategies to protect the law and the independence of the judiciary in Sri Lanka.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)